Providing information, education, and training to build knowledge, develop skills, and change attitudes that will lead to increased independence, productivity, self determination, integration and inclusion (IPSII) for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA--Donovan Jackson, 17, testified Thursday
that he could not remember many details of his video-taped arrest one year ago
--during which he was punched by police officers and slammed onto a patrol car
-- in part because he passed out after one officer choked him.

Jackson was testifying in the case against fired Inglewood officer
Jeremy Morse, who is charged with assault under color of authority, and
suspended officer Bijan Darvish, who is charged with filing a false report of
the incident. If convicted, Morse and Darvish could each face up to 3 years in
prison.

On July 6, 2002, Jackson and his father, Coby Chavis, had pulled into a
convenience store to gas up their car and so Jackson could get some snacks.
When Jackson came out of the store two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies
were investigating Chavis' car because it had an expired registration.

Deputies claim that Jackson was told to stay back from the car, but
instead lunged at one of them. The deputies arrested Jackson, handcuffed him,
and then placed him in a squad car.

When Inglewood officers arrived on the scene, Jackson stood up. A deputy
grabbed him by the neck and, according to Jackson's attorney, the Inglewood
officers began beating the teenager.

A tourist in a nearby motel video-taped the officers punching Jackson,
then picking him up and slamming him onto the patrol car. The scene was
broadcast on national television, prompting comparisons between it and the 1991
video-taped police beating of Rodney King Jr. Like King, Jackson is
African-American.

Attorneys representing Morse and Darvish said Jackson first attacked one
officer and then grabbed another officer's groin while he was handcuffed. They
tried to show that Jackson, who has a developmental disability, was an
unreliable witness because he couldn't remember details of the incident and had
told differing stories about whether he was unconscious when he fell to the
ground.

The GCDD is funded under the provisions of P.L. 106-402. The federal law also provides funding to the Minnesota Disability Law Center,the state Protection and Advocacy System, and to the Institute on Community Integration, the state University Center for Excellence. The Minnesota network of programs works to increase the IPSII of people with developmental disabilities and families into community life.